Monday, 22 February 2010

Interesting to see some new designed Polaroid cameras in production, to be available later this year (for quite a hefty price tag.. apparently under $100, which seems a lot when you can find old ones in charity shops for less than £10..) Am just hoping this means the films will be available soon, but I'm a bit worried they'll be really pricey as well! I quite like the wood design on the one below but I still prefer the old ones! via here

Thursday, 18 February 2010

After seeing this gorgeous handmade envelope (below) on another blog I was drawn to the site of Parisian illustrator Emilie Boudet. Amongst her work is a year-long illustrated diary, as well as some brilliant travel carnets from India, Copenhagen and Toronto. Really makes me want to travel and fill a sketchbook with what I see!

Still on the mail theme, I found one of my favourite childhood books in Oxfam the other week! The Jolly Postman books by Janet & Allen Ahlberg were always so much fun to read, especially for someone like me who loves reading letters (other people's too!) It made me feel all fuzzy inside to open up the envelopes again.

Wednesday, 17 February 2010

Thank you to everyone who sent me a letter this month, it was great to get home and see a new one waiting for me! There was some beautiful stationery, some sweet buttons and shells from Jennifer, and a pretty watercolour self portrait from Tabitha (below) amongst other things, yay! I'll do my best to reply to them! :-)

I'm sure I've mentioned my love for Jeffrey Brown's comics at some point before. He's written some of my favourites including Clumsy, Unlikely and Every Girl is the End of the World for Me. Anyway as I am currently planning a possible trip to Chicago in June, me and Tom decided to email Mr Brown with a little comic we drew last weekend asking him for any tips, sights to see etc.

And he replied!

Here's an excerpt from his email about places to visit in Chicago:

'As for places you should check out, you absolutely must visit Quimbys - www.quimbys.com - one of the best comics shops in the world. Millenium Park and the Art Institute of Chicago are both well worth visiting. I'd also recommend the Field Museum, but that may be just because my son Oscar likes going there to see the dinosaurs so I really like it there lately. I'm not a baseball fan, but seeing a baseball game at Wrigley Field is always a worthwhile experience for a fun afternoon. As for shows (as well as other Chicago happenings and info) check out the Chicago Reader's website. It's a free weekly paper here, and you should pick one up while you're here too: www.chicagoreader.com

Good venues are Double Door, Schubas, Subterranean, Vic, Lincoln Hall, Aragon...
And oh yeah, McSweeney's has a store to visit too, fairly close to Quimbys (you'll also find Myopic the used book store, Earwax Cafe, and Reckless Records nearby) http://www.826chi.org/
Hope that helps, have a great trip!
Jeff'

Thursday, 4 February 2010

Recently discovered the blog of illustrator Badaude. I just love the layouts of her moleskine diary sketches. (Click to enlarge!) Badaude has also been commissioned to paint some brilliant pictures on the walls of Shakespeare & Co in Paris.